Siri-Like Functionality Added to BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha

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Siri-Like Functionality Added to BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha

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With the introduction of the iPhone 4S, came the introduction of Siri, the voice activated assistant. Apple featured Siri in numerous commercials for the iPhone 4S, touting it as the main selling feature.

Since then, Samsung has introduced their own voice activated assisted called S-Voice, and there was much speculation as to if RIM would follow suit. BlackBerry has had some basic voice control services, but the latest update to BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha shows they are working on trying to compete with Siri.

In this video, from CrackBerry.com, we get a preview of what they are working on:

It looks like BlackBerry is still trying to catch up to Apple, but will it be enough to pull them out of the hole and once again be successful in the smartphone market? That remains to be seen.

Well I’m absolutely flabergasted at how identical it sounds. I am under the impression the voice itself is not an Apple owned property so others can use the same voice? But even with that aside, the returned responses for the appointment setup etc are damned near, if not identical. Almost seems like they’re just sending to, and recieving from Apple’s Siri servers haha.

I do find it funny that they feel it is required to have a male voice remind the user that they need to say a voice command after a beep. It sure makes for a long delay from the time you start pressing the button, to the time you can successfully complete an actual command, all the meanwhile having zero on-screen feedback. I guess it is still in development thought.

cyruskafaiwu

Apple uses the voices that they have built into the Mac reading text system that have been acquired years ago. Siri in America uses Samantha (mac voice)

Not that the potential of Siri or S-voice isn’t cool, but it is hardly a defining feature. Think BB should focus on other things to pull their ass out of the fire.

SteveHiggs

Yeah, that doesn’t really answer my question. You say Samantha is a Mac voice? I have installed Samantha on my Mac and it certainly sounds like the Siri voice as you said, but then why is that voice in this video? I can only assume Samantha is not owned by Apple but perhaps owned by Nuance, the company behind some of Siri’s technologies. If Samantha is intact owned by Nuance then BB could simply have the same license to use Samantha as Apple has.